“Oil Ministry caretaker Mohammad Aliabadi will assume the presidency of the OPEC meeting on Wednesday,” Rahimi said on Monday.

Iran currently holds the rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rahimi added that the Oil Ministry's policies and strategies would continue “with the presence of Aliabadi and he should take steps to increase non-oil exports in order to develop the country's infrastructures,” IRNA reported.

In March, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad relieved Welfare Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, Minister of Mines and Industries Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi of their duties in line with the 53rd Article of the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan.

The Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015) states that the Iranian government is obliged to reduce its ministries form 21 to 17 to officially improve the efficiency of state administration.

Ahmadinejad then temporarily assumed the responsibilities of the oil minister following the dismissal of Mirkazemi.

On June 2, Ahmadinejad appointed the former head of Iran's Physical Education Organization as caretaker oil minister.